Chronicle fileThis 2001 photo shows the east entrance to the Sears store at The Lakes Mall. The parent company announced Tuesday its intention to close 100-120 stores, but The Lakes Mall general manager would be surprised if the local Sears store was on the closing list.

Sears and Kmart stores, including those serving the Muskegon-area market, are in limbo following the announcement by their parent company that it plans to close 100-120 stores.

A list of planned closings of Sears and Kmart full-line stores has yet to be finalized and released by Sears Holdings Corp., so the status of the two stores in Muskegon County is uncertain. The upcoming closings, announced Tuesday by the company, are being blamed on poor holiday sales.

The Muskegon area has a full-line Sears store, including an auto center, at The Lakes Mall on Harvey Street in Fruitport Township. The last remaining Kmart store in Muskegon County is at 1501 E. Apple in Muskegon Township. The company closed its Kmart store on Henry Street in Norton Shores years ago. A Kmart in Grand Haven ended its run more than a decade ago.

Smaller Sears stores, classified by the company as Hometown Stores, are operated in Whitehall, at 1321 Colby, and Fremont, at 7147 W. 48th, but those are not part of the closing announcement.

Chronicle fileShoppers shop at the Kmart on Henry Street in Norton Shores in 2002. The store has since been closed.

Final determination of the stores to be closed has not been made yet, according to the press release on the company's website. The company, which has more than 4,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada, said it will post on its website when a final list is compiled.

The local Sears store manager directed media questions to the company's public relations office in Illinois.

The Lakes Mall General Manager Michael Hagen said he could not speak to the company's decisions being made, but that he believes the local Sears, one of the mall's anchor stores, is doing fine based on the market condition.

“I would be very surprised if this store was on that list,” Hagen said.

The company's revenues at stores open at least a year fell 5.2 percent to date for the quarter at both Sears and Kmart, the company said Tuesday. That includes the critical holiday shopping period.

In an internal memo Tuesday to employees, CEO and President Lou D'Ambrosio said the retailer had not "generated the results we were seeking during the holiday."

Sears Holdings said the declining sales, ongoing pressure on profit margins and rising expenses pulled its adjusted earnings lower. The company predicts fourth-quarter adjusted earnings will be less than half the $933 million it reported for the same quarter last year.

“While our past practice has been to keep marginally performing stores open while we worked to improve their performance, we no longer believe that to be the appropriate action in this environment,” the company said in the release. “We intend to accentuate our focus and resources to our better-performing stores with the goal of converting their customer experience into a world-class integrated retail experience.”

According to the press release, company officials expect the store closures to generate $140 million to $170 million of cash, as the net inventory in these stores is sold, and gain additional cash proceeds from the sale or sublease of the related real estate.

Kmart's 4.4 percent decline in revenue at stores open at least a year was blamed on diminished layaways and a drop in clothing and consumer electronics sales. Part of Kmart's layaway softness likely stemmed from competitive pressure. Wal-Mart had said that its holiday layaway business had been popular. Toys R Us expanded its layaway services to include more items. Kmart's grocery sales climbed during the period.

Sears cited lackluster consumer electronics and home appliance sales for its 6 percent dropoff. Sears' clothing sales were flat. Sales of Lands' End products at Sears stores rose in the mid-single digits.

The weaker-than-expected performance reflects what analysts say is a deteriorating outlook for the retailer.

The results point to "deepening problems at this struggling chain and renewed worries about Sears' survivability," said Gary Balter, an analyst at Credit Suisse. "The extent of the weakness may be larger than expected but the reasons behind it are not. It begins and some would argue ends with Sears' reluctance to invest in stores and service."